Fishing implement for oil-wells.



No MODEL.

UNITED STATES PATENT Ormes@ WASHINGTON SMITH AND LEWIS PIGGOTT, OF BELLEVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA.

FISHING IMPLEMENT FOR OIL-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,078, dated February 10, 1903.

Application flied April 1e, 1902.'

To a/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that We, WASHINGTON SMITH and LEwIs PIGGOTT, citizens of the United States, residing at Belleville, in the county of Wood and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Fishing Implementfor Oil-Wells, of which the following is a specification.

This inventionreiates to implements employed for recovering lost ropes, drill-rods, and the like Vfrom oil and other wells; and the invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, as hereinafter shown and described, and specifically pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings illustrative of the invention, Figure 1 is a side View of theimplement open or expanded, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the implement open. Fig. 3 represents a modification in the construction of the gripping-jaws, partially in section. Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

In the implement is comprised two oppos# ing jaw members 10 and 11, pivotally united at an intermediate point, as at 12, 'and with a spring 12LL between the members 10 11, just below the hinge-point and adapted to maintain the jaw members normally distended, as in Fig. 1. The jaw members are formed with uniform exterior outlines, so that when distended, as in Fig. 1, the lower extremities 10 11 will be the Widest part of the implement and the jaws will incline inwardly in straight exterior lines to the opposite ends 10b 11b and without projections at the hinge-.point 12. By this means when the implement is being loweredinto the well the largest part will be constantly downward and any tendency of the implement to engage obstructions which the lowermost ends succeed in passing will be obviated, as hereinafter more fully explained.

The members 10 and 11 above the hinge 12 are formed with upwardly and inwardly inclined recesses, as at 13 V13, and between these recessesY is. a draft -rod 14, having a head 15 on its lower end engaging the recesses. The rodv 14 will bel formed with an enlargement 16, and above this enlargement the means 17 for the attachment of the draft cable or chain will be arranged. The en- Serial No. 103,188. (No model.)

largement 16 will be so disposed upon the rod 14 that when the head l5 is at its lowermost point, as in Fig. 1, the projection will engage the ends 10b 11b of the jaw members, and thereby serve as a stop to limit the downward movement of the rod.

Transversely disposed through the upper ends of the jaw members 10 and 11 are stoprods 17 18, each secured by one end in one of the jaw members and movable through the opposite jaw member. The rods thus serve the twofold purpose of guides for the lateral movement of the jaw members to relieve the hinge portion 12 from undue sidestrains and as stops with which the head 15 will engage when the rod 14 is elevated to its highest point, and thus limit the upward movement and prevent the rod from being entirely withdrawn from between the jaw members.

The adjacent faces of the jaw members below the hinge-point 12 are provided with means for engaging the rope, rod, or other article in the well. When the article to be Yengaged is a rope or other yieldable article or material, the opposing faces will be provided with inwardly and upwardly projecting spurs, as at 19 in Figs. 1 and 2, and when the article to be engaged is a rod or other hard substance the opposing faces will be provided with teeth or sharp-edged notches 20. The implement can thus be adapted to engage any of the various impediments that are usually met with in oil and similar wells and successfully employed to remove them. The spring 12W will be of just sufficient strength to sustain the weight of the jaw members and maintain them suspended when not in action, as in Fig. 1, but which will not prevent the jaws being forcibly closed by the upward movement of the head 15 when it is required to engage the object in the well. When the implement is to be used, therefore, it will descend into the well in its distended form, as in Fig. 1, and the lower portions 10a 11a being the most widely extended part of the implement any obstruction which these parts. pass will not oer any resistance to the remainder of the implement, as the inclination is constantly and uniformly inward and upward from the lowermost to the uppermost point, as before described. This and movably engaging the jaw members near their upper ends, a draft-rod operating between said jaw members and embraced by said guide-rods and with an enlargement upon its lower end in operative engagement with said jaw members, substantially as described. In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto aiiixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

WASHINGTON SMITH. LEWIS PIGGOTT. Witnesses:

P. F. WELLS, ERHIT CRooKs. 

